Feature by Joanna Brichetto

Fifty years ago, the word “parenting” didn’t even exist. What did parents do before that? Muddle through, mostly—lucky if they didn’t inflict their own problems on their children. These five books indicate that “parenting” these days is not just a neologism; it’s an art form invested with life-enhancing values. Here’s a smattering from...

Doctor's cure for hatred

On January 16, 2009, as the three-week-long Israeli Army assault on the Gaza Strip that was intended to stop Hamas rocket attacks was winding down, an explosion ripped through a bedroom in the apartment of Palestinian doctor Izzeldin Abuelaish.With his oldest daughter, Dr. Abuelaish rushed to the bedroom and discovered his 17-year-old daughter gravely wounded and his 15-year-old daughter...

Feature by Deanna Larson

A long overdue anti-perfectionist trend is overtaking the fitness world. Being overweight isn't always unhealthy. You can think yourself thin—and you don't need to spend hours in the gym. Feel like crying with relief over your stack of New Year's resolutions? Read on.Count calories, sure, but keep weight off with different thinking. Dr. Judith S. Beck uses the power of the...

What d'ya know, the Grinch is 5-0!

In the decades since the publication of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the title character has become almost as much a part of the holiday season as Santa Claus. Is this the ultimate irony, considering how much the Grinch despised the noisy festivities of the Whos, who lived just south of him in Whoville? Not really, because as we all know, after his heart grew a few sizes, the Grinch came to...

Behind the Book by Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Growing up in Vienna during the Great Sausage Famine, it was out of pure necessity that my family developed a very strong tradition of telling stories around the fire. And, because we did not have a fireplace, most of those stories were about how to escape a burning building.Still, it’s a rather substantive leap from coughing out a narrative as you crawl on your hands and knees toward the...

Studying death down on the farm

Solving crimes has never looked easier, and thanks to TV dramas such as CSI and Bones, and documentaries including Forensic Files and high-tech, highly hyped explorations (is that mummy really Queen Nefertiti?), we're all armchair forensic scientists. In truth, many cases don't wrap with a denouement. Though corpses and skeletal remains provide clues, body language isn't always so easily...

Starting out in style

Once you've got the gear, it's time to rear that beautiful baby of yours. Bright from the Start: The Simple, Science-Backed Way to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind from Birth to Age 3 offers practical ideas for parents on how to relate to these little people and help them thrive. Author Dr. Jill Stamm, co-founder of New Directions Institute for Infant Brain Development, with co-author...

In their own voices

Harlem Speaks: A Living History of the Harlem Renaissance, a collection edited by Texas Southern University history professor Dr. Gary D. Wintz, demystifies several heralded individuals through precise, detailed essays from 21 experts on the era's finest writers, artists, poets, intellectuals and performers. The list of contributors includes literary biographers Arnold Rampersad, Tyrone...

Taking control of life's hectic pace

<b>Taking control of life's hectic pace</b> This article should have been finished sooner, but I had to reply to the 48 e-mail messages in my inbox, not to mention all those voice mail messages on my phone and the urgent letters that are piling up on my cluttered desk. I'm feeling frenzied, frazzled and forgetful a condition Dr....

A book to guide you past the pitfalls of dating

Being happily single is wonderful. Many of my long-married women friends talk wistfully of their single days evenings spent with a stack of movies, a glass of wine and a huge bowl of popcorn no real cooking, no one to answer to, and no one to nix their choice of French with English subtitles in favor of something with more action. Even while searching for a soul mate, the ability to savor that...